The ACT rule in Social Media Marketing

Traditional marketing has been the only solution to publicize a product or a service over the years. However, social media marketing has made its way through. The advertising done through traditional marketing easily reached to its customers and worked well for many years.

However, things have changed now. Traditional marketing has not become obsolete, it has rather evolved. Through social media, traditional marketing has got eyes and ears and so has the audience. The audience can, and wants to talk back. And that’s exactly what the brands have learned to do over the years. They have provided the audience, the platforms to talk back to them and share their experiences, reviews and suggestions. Also, the brands are making the most of internet and social media through the ACT methodology.

A = Attract

C = Convert

T = Transform

Attract: to attract prospects to your product or where your products and its features lie.

Convert: to convert a stranger into a consumer or a customer.

Transform: to transform their past buying behavior into future attractions towards new products the brands has to offer.

The attraction phase is the most successful phase of online marketing. Now the question arises, what is needed to attract consumers?
That’s where BOD comes in.

B = Brand

O = Outcome

D = Differentiator

Your unique selling proposition
These principles are extremely important to online marketing and social media marketing in particular. Consumers are constantly exposed to anonymous data. If you don’t have the right elements, you can’t stand out from the noise and clutter. If you don’t stand out, you can’t attract people to do business.

When the traffic is attracted to the product, someone would always be there who would be an exact and ideal fit for the product, and if the product satisfies their exact demand, that one person from the whole mob of strangers, converts into a consumer and eventually a customer.

However, realistically there is no such thing as instant clients. There may be one or two, but if someone running a fresh online business expects an overnight shoot-up in sales, that doesn’t happen. Sometimes due to budget, sometimes due to lack of trust.

Ownership works best when conversion enters the picture. Owning social media accounts or fan pages is just good, but not good enough. Social networking forums come in useful when the buyer shares experiences and gives feedback. But relying just on the social media accounts about running your business is just not very wise. A website is a must to get your online business to run smoothly and successfully.

Now that one person has converted into a buyer and has ultimately made a purchase, what happens next? Does the brand bid farewell to the precious customer? No. that’s where the social media plays an extremely important part. How?

The brand keeps a track of the consumer by asking for their basic details like email id or profile information, that way, they can always keep in touch with the consumers whenever there is a new arrival, free giveaways, clearance sale etc.

The brand uses the information from the past sales (a positive feedback, a blog, testimonials, videos, pictures with your product etc.) To establish their success story.

The audience can always give feedback. Share photos, write a positive blog, word of mouth, it’s their call! Now how does this help in transformation at the brand’s end? It helps when another prospect consumer comes across such information about a brand. Because the people are looking for proof (especially if it’s an online purchase) and want to make sure if their buying decision is correct. And the ACT cycle starts all over again.

The ACT cycle, if understood to the core, is a technique that has made online business simpler and less terrifying. But unlike traditional marketing times, you are unable to tell promptly whether you are succeeding or not. Because there are no instant zero to hundred sales online. However, once gotten it right, the chances are very less likely for a business to fail.